On the cover of the Rolling Stone

Have you ever wanted to see what appeared on every cover of Rolling Stone magazine? Now you can, from 1967 onward. It's a testament to what was talked about in each year in American culture.

Not perfect, but engaging

It's hard to find a well-written movie these days, which is why I want to rave a bit about Crash. It's the story of various people from different cultures in L.A. who stumble into each others' lives. It's about stereotypes, racism, fate and synchronicity. It's a great movie, with one of my favourite actors (Don Cheadle). A conversation starter to be sure....

How do you respond to this?

This is what happens when you either have too much time on your hands, or your imagination is allowed to run wild......

Full sized pic here.

Things that make you go 'hmmm'

Asked why there were no more Gretzky clothing line items on shelves, a Hudson's Bay employee told me they did not renew the contract. This mere days before the announced gambling scandal. Is it possible that business players behind the scenes knew of the impending accusations about to unfold on the Gretzky camp? Perhaps the notion that the gambling ring was connected to the mob isn't so far fetched - after all, the Olympics are in Italy. What shocking revelations have yet to be unearthed in this heinous............... thing?

But most importantly, why doesn't anyone seem to care?

"MOM! Timmy's hitting me!"

According to research, it only takes kids (on average) 12 and a half minutes of a car ride before uttering the common query, "Are we there yet?" I wonder if the figures would typically be longer in North America, considering that an hour-long drive in Britain would be considered a long trip, whereas in N.A., that's many peoples' daily commute - each way.

Olympic boom

Here's something I only learned recently - Vancouver is building a huge expansion of their SkyTrain system in time for the Winter Olympics in 2010. The green Evergreen line and red Canada line are under contruction. The Canada line will link downtown with the airport. Do ya hear that Calgary transportation planners? Their light rail will connect to the airport! What a concept, huh?

How's it goin' eh?

Good day! This is too good to be true - but it is true. Worth1000 currently have a contest for people to submit altered images representing what the world would be like if Canada ruled.

It's a howl eh?

Thanks to Cory at BoingBoing for the tip.

No, it's not Milla Jovovich

Well, one of my readers made good on my first 'guess who this is', so maybe we'll try again. Who knows, this could become a regular feature on White Noise.

So - who is this music artist?

Winter.... why hath thou forsaken us?

I've probably mentioned this already, but in Calgary, we are experiencing one of our warmest, driest winters on record. We have received snow a couple of times, but it's never been deep and it's never stayed on the ground more than a week. This is because we've probably had a chinook once a week, enough to warm up the air and melt the snow away. The forecasted high for this weekend is expected to reach 10 or 12C (about 54F). That's Oregon coast weather. It's February! In Canada!

So what's the problem? Has winter lost its edge? Nope. It just moved to the other side of the globe is all. Apparently what we're missing is our arctic vortex. It normally sits over northern Canada, angrily glaring at all the drunken Canadians and their hockey, spawning winter storms and arctic cold fronts. The effects are felt all over Canada and into the US. But this year, Mr Vortex decided to park its ass over Greenland. The result - Europe and Asia are being hit with the wicked weather we'd normally be getting.

Or, if my mom was able to get her two cents in here, she'd offer that it's just the Russians playing with the weather again.

"Have you tried restarting your computer?"

The IT Crowd is a new TV show in the UK that reveals the lives of 2 wacky System Administrators. The first 3 episodes have made it online (naturally), but with the blessing of the TV network in this case. Of course you cannot access them (unless you use a proxy) from outside the UK. Check out the episodes here - although they have already gone offline once. If you look hard enough, you may find them crop up elsewhere on the net. If you know of anything in the world of computer support, this is gonna make you laugh. I hope this eventually gets released (or bought by a cable network) in Canada.

P.S.: Dear Channel 4,
You'll end up making much more money from this program in the long run if you'd make the clips available to the whole world. You know, kinda like a teaser to get people the world over to pressure their cable networks to buy the thing?

It's a trick I tell you................. a fabrication!

There's no gambling ring organized by hockey players.

This is simply a conspiracy by a corrupt police force in New Jersey, in collusion with the American Olympic Hockey team, destined to implicate the manager of the team most likely to win the Gold again at the Olympics in Italy in a couple weeks. This is a desperate effort to get Team Canada off their game - and it's not going to work.

Good grief

The Canadian Red Cross wants video game creators to stop using red crosses to identify "health packs" in video games.

[deep, heavy sigh]

Hugh Mongous!

Cruise ships just get bigger and bigger. Witness Project Genesis, the latest order by Royal Caribbean from Aker shipyards in Norway. Meanwhile, check out Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas ship.

Imagine...... a city of 18 million people

This collection of aerial photos of Mexico City and environs taken by a helicopter pilot are breathtaking. But the ones that really amazed me were the shots of the low income housing projects. It looks so unreal.

The Floyd have left the building

Well - I guess this is the end of an era. David Gilmour, the lead guitarist of the band Pink Floyd has announced that they are officially done. The individual artists that made up the band, Gilmour, Richard Wright, Roger Waters and Nick Mason may continue with solo efforts, but The Floyd is finished.

Speaking of solo projects, Gilmour is about to release an album called On an Island, co-produced by Phil Manzanera (formerly of Roxy Music). Guest artists include David Crosby and Graham Nash singing harmonies and Richard Wright singing and guesting on Hammond organ (he's touring with the band as well).

What a shame about The Floyd. But on a positive note - it's been a hell of a trip. For some people, I mean that in more ways than one.

"The magic fridge is back!"

In case you didn't watch the Super Bowl this past weekend and never caught the annual infamous Super Bowl commercials that aired (in the US), here's where you can see 'em. The 'secret fridge' Bud Light commercial is my fave, with the FedEx 'stick' commercial coming a close second.

It's great - save for one tiny detail

The Internet is wonderful for geting reviews on places you'd like to visit. The problem is that there are plenty of resources available, each with their own offerings, but nowhere to amalgamate it all together in one easy to use site. Did I say nowhere? That's not true anymore, thanks to Openlist. Select the category (hotels; retsaurants; or attractions) and plug in the keywords and location and let Openlist search the reviews for the destinations you're considering. The only drawback? Almost exclusively American content, which is OK if all you're interested in is US destinations. Hopefully they branch out soon.

Zoom zoom

If you've never seen a hard drive's insides in operation, here's your chance. This is a movie of a hard drive with a see-through cover so you can view the mechanics doing their thing.

Blogger has some issues?

What is going on with Blogger lately?

Aaaaaachubuntu!

I've been trialing Ubuntu Linux on my laptop for about a month now. So here's my conclusion. Ubuntu is an example of a Linux distribution that tries to be as easy as possible for the average user to install, use and add "approved" software to make it more functional. So for a computer user who just has basic needs - get on the Internet, surf the web, check up on their MSN / AOL / ICQ buddies, create a few documents etc., this operating system will work just fine. It's when you want to add Linux software to the thing that isn't part of the already blessed online Ubuntu repositories that you'll run into some grief. I tried upgrading the included version of Firefox (1.0.7) to the latest version (1.5.1) and had to jump through a half dozen hoops to make it happen. Tailoring Linux is not for the faint of heart. But I am impressed with how well Ubuntu detected my hardware on my HP laptop. Also, the software that comes with Ubuntu is more than enough for most people. If you are thinking of giving any flavour (distribution) of Linux a try, Google is your bud. So are friendly Linux blogs like the New Linux User Blog . It was thanks to links provided by Jon and Co. that I was able to upgrade Firefox to 1.5 in Ubuntu. Is Linux easy as pie? No, but neither was Windows the first time you tried it either. But it is free. And considering what you get for zero dollars, I'm not giving up on Ubuntu just yet.

Mmmmm..............pie

D'OH!!

Best Powerpoint slide............... ever. Just insert this innocent slide into your presentation and watch the smiles on the audience's faces.

Ooooo! I know that one!

Guess the movie just by viewing the still. I got 18/30. I need to get out more.......

These are a few of my favourite things.......

I'm sure people have much more important things to complain about, but I digress - in advance. Everything I like seems to always get discontinued. The Gretzky line of clothes at The Bay - gone. Powder fresh Degree anti-perspirant - finished. Brunch at The Castle restaurant - adios. Dr. Marten's shoes at Soul Comfort - au revoir. Peanut buster parfait at Dairy Queen - psyche! You can still get that. No more peanut buster parfait would be grounds for a huge demonstration at DQ headquarters.... I'm talkin' 12 to 13 people at least.........

You call yo'seff a planet?

In case you thought prejudice was limited to earth, I give you UB313. At least, that's what their calling it until someone comes up with an actual name for our newly discovered 10th planet. What I want to know is - why isn't there any real excitement about the fact that we just discovered another planet? Because it's way out there on the fringes of the solar system - that's why. If the planet had been discovered this side of the tracks asteroid belt, there would be a rover mission on its way already. Disney parks would have a ride commemorating the planet. You know why the planet doesn't have a name yet? Because nobody cares. Hell, some scientists are already arguing that it's not really a planet. "Not in my solar system", they exclaim. I have a suggestion - let's call it Rogue.

Calling all Mr Potato-heads....

First there was Darth Tater. Then came the Spud Trooper. So you knew it was only a matter of time before we had R2-Potatoo. Coming in June.......

Home-made turkey stuffing the cheaters' way

I loves my stuffing (or dressing, as some people call it). But a good home-made stuffing is a lot of work and calls for very specific spices (expensive). Now there's an easier way. Your favourite stuffing-in-a-box comes with all the spices you'll ever need. You can even mix and match different types until you find a combination you like best. Break up some fresh bread into small pieces, saute some onion and lots of butter, mix it all together with the contents of the spice pouches and voila. I mix mine by shaking it in a big plastic container with a lid. Add any other fave ingredient you like. It's easy, and it tastes like mom used to make.

[edit] Just for fun, I decided to try something other than white bread. I used a dark, multi-grain bread instead and it was very good.

Lo-tech financial tip

One of the coolest things I learned from Darlene was how to budget. Nobody likes surprises when bills come in, so budgeting helps you breathe easier all month long.

It's easy - buy yourself one of those 20 or 40 column ledgers. Label each column the name of a regular bill or expense, along with the amount and which pay (mid or end month) it comes out of. Leave room at the right side for 'balance', 'withdrawal', 'deposit'. Whenever you get paid, put the amount needed to cover an upcoming expense in that column. The columns are supposed to add up to the balance (withdrawal and deposit excepted). When a bill comes in, you simply deduct the amount from the appropriate column (leaving zero). What's left from each pay can be divided up between a savings, spending or whatever other columns you've identified. We even have a column for vacation. It's a great system, because you get a much better feel for how much your money can stretch. You can even reserve columns for items you need to save for - like a new couch, or a dishwasher.

It's like deja vu!

I just received an upgraded credit card for a very specific special collector deal in the mail today. In the envelope with the new card......... was an application for an upgraded credit card for that very same very specific special collector deal. I should have just applied for it again. God only knows what kind of distortion in the space-time continuum that might have caused.

Forget walking a straight line.....

Can there be anything more annoying than those flimsy plastic bags-on-a-roll in the produce aisle of the grocery store? It takes a special skill to open those things. Maybe they should use them at police check-stops as a sobriety test.........

I can't get it out of my head....

Isn't it annoying when you have a tune in your head but you can't figure out what it is. Even more maddening is when you don't even know the lyrics, so you can't even Google to find the name of the song. I'm suffering that dilemma today. So I visited a music chart site that lists all the songs (I'm guessing in North America) that ever made the Top 40 charts between 1930 and 1999. Then it occurred to me - wouldn't my readers like to stroll down memory lane and re-acquaint themselves with the songs they grew up with? Sure you would.

Bonus points if you can tell me who the pictured artist is.........